Aldi spread some festive cheer on Christmas Eve with the donation of thousands of meals to charities across the south east.

The Empty Plate Café in Worthing was one of those to benefit from the supermarket’s season of giving, having partnered with the Rustington store.

Aldi in Manor Retail Park, Rustington, partnered with The Empty Plate Cafe in Worthing this Christmas

In total, more than 82,000 meals were donated across the region.

Fritz Walleczek, managing director of corporate responsibility, said: “By donating fresh food such as bread, fruit and vegetables and meat, we’ve been able to support charities in providing warm and healthy festive meals this Christmas season.

“The feedback has been overwhelming and we’re delighted that we’ve been able to go above and beyond with our donations this year, and reach so many people in and across the south east.”

The charity partnerships made the most of quality unsold fresh food after stores closed on December 24.

The Christmas initiative was an extension of Aldi’s existing year-round food donation partnerships with FareShare and Company Shop.

Charities and foodbanks had to register to receive the free food donation and were then paired with their local store.

Mr Walleczek said: “We want to give something back to the communities that we serve at such an important time of year.

“Last year we were able to reach thousands of people across the UK, and some charities were even able to prepare fresh meals that fed families well into the new year.”